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Esqual "High Speed Crash"

 
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cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:20 pm    Post subject: Esqual "High Speed Crash" Reply with quote

I did a Google search using the words <Esqual accident
Spain> and while unable to get a detailed accident
report of what Brian claims is the one Esqual
fatality, I was able to find the words "high speed
crash which caused Esqual to re-think its wing
design". This is not an exact quote, just as I
remember it. Anyone out there know the details of that
accident?
--- Pete <pete(at)flylightning.net> wrote:

Quote:
>From the FAA web site - there are 12 Esquals with
AW certificates that are
flying. Eleven sold by Esqual North America or
Jabiru USA and one sold
direct from Limair (I guess) at the time we could
not get metal parts for
our kits and Limair was keeping our deposit money
for kits not delivered.
The kit sold by Limair is serial 72 and the last
ones we sold were 74 & 75..
It would be interesting to find if Limair supplies
him with metal parts that
they never supplied to our builders.



Pete



_____

From: owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com
[mailto:owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com]
On Behalf Of
N1BZRich(at)aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 2:02 PM
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: Re: Total # of Esqual
flying



Hello all,

Since someone asked about Esquals, and my
specific airplane has been
mentioned, let me add a few comments. I estimate
the number of Esqual kits
still actively flying in the US is probably some
where between 5 and 8, with
probably 3 more to fly soon. Many more were built
in Europe and some in
Australia. The ones with the Jabiru engine are the
fastest. My kit was
serial number 70. I ordered the Esqual kit from
Pete just after Sun-N-Fun
2005 because I did not want to wait a year for the
Lightning kit design to
become finalized and available. I had made the
mistake of quoting a price
for my Bonanza and, just like that, it was sold and
I did not have a
traveling airplane. I needed to replace it, but did
not really need four
seats. The Esqual looked like a good possibility
and with Pete's builder's
assist it could be completed quickly. However,
during the build process I
made many changes to the Esqual design. Some were
just things I wanted to
change to improve the looks, some changes were to
improve performance, some
changes were what I considered safety of flight
issues, some changes were to
improve maintainability, and other changes were by
necessity - meaning that
many of my kit parts were never delivered by the
then new Esqual owner in
Belgium. (Future kit buyers be careful.) Bottom
line, my Esqual kit could
never have been completed without Pete finding
sources to fabricate the
missing parts - central beam assembly, rudder and
brake pedals, engine
mount, etc. All of these parts were built by the
future Lightning
fabricators.



Here is a partial list of the changes I made:

-Dual brakes using Matco cylinders on all four
brake/rudder pedal
assemblies. This is true dual brakes, not like the
passenger side dual
brakes with cables to activate them, as is the case
if you order dual brakes
with the Esqual kit.

-Welded rudder pedal and brake assemblies made out
of 4130 chromoly steel to
replace the weak looking parts that the Esqual kit
had. Well, My "weak
looking" parts did not come, so had to have the
future Lightning supplier
weld up the parts for my airplane. So I have
Lightning rudder and brake
pedals.

-Matco wheels and brakes with 500x5 main wheel tires
like on the Lightning.

-Stainless steel firewall like on the Lightning.
The firewall that comes
with the Esqual kit looks sub-standard to me - kind
of like fiberglass cloth
with aluminum film glued on. Not up to my safety
standards.

-Mounted the brake fluid reservoir and electric fuel
pump on the engine side
of the firewall

to ease maintenance on these items.

-Dual throttles for pilot and co-pilot left hands.

-Moved the cockpit air inlets from the cowling to
aft of the firewall using
a NACA style ducts. By doing this you don't need to
have holes in the
firewall for cockpit air as on the Esqual kit. The
Lightning is set up this
way and in my book is much safer if you have en
engine fire.

-Moved the "in cockpit" air outlets to just below
and slightly forward of
the bottom of the instrument panel on each side of
the cockpit. This gives
more panel room.

-Lowered the baggage floor to give more volume to
the storage area.

-Had a complete upholstered cockpit done from
leather look vinyl which I am
told will last longer than real leather. Yes,
heavier, but definitely more
comfortable and better looking.

-Glassed in the wing tips (as several have done) to
allow use of a tip light
that is a combination trobe, colored position light,
and a white position
light all in one. This system is standard on the
Lightning.

-Cut an area of the wing leading edges to provide
room for a landing light
and a taxi light.

-Glassed in the stabilizer to empennage junction (as
several have done).

-Fitted Van's fiberglass gear leg fairings and wheel
pants. The Lightning
guys have developed similar fairings and wheel pants
for the Lightning.
This mod is probably good for at least 20 mph over
the stock Esqual wheel
pants and no gear leg fairings.

-Using AN hardware where possible. Standard on the
Lightning.

-Modified one of the original Lightning cowlings to
fit the Esqual fuselage.
This cowling includes NACA ducts for carb air and
the oil cooler, and has
Lopresti style round air inlets. It is a much lower
drag cowling than the
one that comes with the Esqual kit and is another
source of additional speed
over the stock Esqual.

-I did not use a muffler at all (more power?) and
get cockpit heat and carb
heat from hear muffs on exhaust stacks.

-Oh yes, I almost forgot the "wide butt mod". I am
6'2'' and weigh about
215 pounds. I found that sitting in the Esqual
molded fiberglass seat for
any length of time, I would get "hot spots" on my
hip bones. I cut

slits in that area of the seat pans, heated the
fiberglass and pressed the
area outward to widen the area, and then re-glassed
the seat pans. It helps
a lot on long flights.

There may be other small mods that I am not
remembering, but these are
the main ones. The result of all these changes and
the extra equipment
installed in the instrument panel, is probably the
heaviest Esqual built to

=== message truncated ===



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dashvii(at)hotmail.com
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:31 pm    Post subject: Esqual "High Speed Crash" Reply with quote

Charles,
What I heard is that it was the previous owner of the company giving a
demo ride to a media person. While doing a high speed pass, the passenger
was given the controls and it inverted and went in. What we might be saying
is that it was a high speed stall. Don't know that under such circumstances
that a wing shape design would be much different. If it were a low speed
stall spin and the plane had undesirable stall characteristics then this
would make sense to change the wing design. The Lightning's wing pretty
much falls right back into place and is practically a non-event. The last
Esqual's that I flew, which would have the newer wing design that you
mention would also fall right back into place, but would usually have a
slight fall off to the right or left in the ones that I've flown. (might
have something to do with such a light plane and all the passenger weight,
namely me, on one side, but don't know) Brian W.
From: Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com>
Reply-To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: RE: Esqual "High Speed Crash"
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 17:19:51 -0800 (PST)



I did a Google search using the words <Esqual accident
Spain> and while unable to get a detailed accident
report of what Brian claims is the one Esqual
fatality, I was able to find the words "high speed
crash which caused Esqual to re-think its wing
design". This is not an exact quote, just as I
remember it. Anyone out there know the details of that
accident?
--- Pete <pete(at)flylightning.net> wrote:

> >From the FAA web site - there are 12 Esquals with
> AW certificates that are
> flying. Eleven sold by Esqual North America or
> Jabiru USA and one sold
> direct from Limair (I guess) at the time we could
> not get metal parts for
> our kits and Limair was keeping our deposit money
> for kits not delivered.
> The kit sold by Limair is serial 72 and the last
> ones we sold were 74 & 75..
> It would be interesting to find if Limair supplies
> him with metal parts that
> they never supplied to our builders.
>
>
>
> Pete
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com
> [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com]
> On Behalf Of
> N1BZRich(at)aol.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 2:02 PM
> To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
> Subject: Re: Total # of Esqual
> flying
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> Since someone asked about Esquals, and my
> specific airplane has been
> mentioned, let me add a few comments. I estimate
> the number of Esqual kits
> still actively flying in the US is probably some
> where between 5 and 8, with
> probably 3 more to fly soon. Many more were built
> in Europe and some in
> Australia. The ones with the Jabiru engine are the
> fastest. My kit was
> serial number 70. I ordered the Esqual kit from
> Pete just after Sun-N-Fun
> 2005 because I did not want to wait a year for the
> Lightning kit design to
> become finalized and available. I had made the
> mistake of quoting a price
> for my Bonanza and, just like that, it was sold and
> I did not have a
> traveling airplane. I needed to replace it, but did
> not really need four
> seats. The Esqual looked like a good possibility
> and with Pete's builder's
> assist it could be completed quickly. However,
> during the build process I
> made many changes to the Esqual design. Some were
> just things I wanted to
> change to improve the looks, some changes were to
> improve performance, some
> changes were what I considered safety of flight
> issues, some changes were to
> improve maintainability, and other changes were by
> necessity - meaning that
> many of my kit parts were never delivered by the
> then new Esqual owner in
> Belgium. (Future kit buyers be careful.) Bottom
> line, my Esqual kit could
> never have been completed without Pete finding
> sources to fabricate the
> missing parts - central beam assembly, rudder and
> brake pedals, engine
> mount, etc. All of these parts were built by the
> future Lightning
> fabricators.
>
>
>
> Here is a partial list of the changes I made:
>
> -Dual brakes using Matco cylinders on all four
> brake/rudder pedal
> assemblies. This is true dual brakes, not like the
> passenger side dual
> brakes with cables to activate them, as is the case
> if you order dual brakes
> with the Esqual kit.
>
> -Welded rudder pedal and brake assemblies made out
> of 4130 chromoly steel to
> replace the weak looking parts that the Esqual kit
> had. Well, My "weak
> looking" parts did not come, so had to have the
> future Lightning supplier
> weld up the parts for my airplane. So I have
> Lightning rudder and brake
> pedals.
>
> -Matco wheels and brakes with 500x5 main wheel tires
> like on the Lightning.
>
> -Stainless steel firewall like on the Lightning.
> The firewall that comes
> with the Esqual kit looks sub-standard to me - kind
> of like fiberglass cloth
> with aluminum film glued on. Not up to my safety
> standards.
>
> -Mounted the brake fluid reservoir and electric fuel
> pump on the engine side
> of the firewall
>
> to ease maintenance on these items.
>
> -Dual throttles for pilot and co-pilot left hands.
>
> -Moved the cockpit air inlets from the cowling to
> aft of the firewall using
> a NACA style ducts. By doing this you don't need to
> have holes in the
> firewall for cockpit air as on the Esqual kit. The
> Lightning is set up this
> way and in my book is much safer if you have en
> engine fire.
>
> -Moved the "in cockpit" air outlets to just below
> and slightly forward of
> the bottom of the instrument panel on each side of
> the cockpit. This gives
> more panel room.
>
> -Lowered the baggage floor to give more volume to
> the storage area.
>
> -Had a complete upholstered cockpit done from
> leather look vinyl which I am
> told will last longer than real leather. Yes,
> heavier, but definitely more
> comfortable and better looking.
>
> -Glassed in the wing tips (as several have done) to
> allow use of a tip light
> that is a combination trobe, colored position light,
> and a white position
> light all in one. This system is standard on the
> Lightning.
>
> -Cut an area of the wing leading edges to provide
> room for a landing light
> and a taxi light.
>
> -Glassed in the stabilizer to empennage junction (as
> several have done).
>
> -Fitted Van's fiberglass gear leg fairings and wheel
> pants. The Lightning
> guys have developed similar fairings and wheel pants
> for the Lightning.
> This mod is probably good for at least 20 mph over
> the stock Esqual wheel
> pants and no gear leg fairings.
>
> -Using AN hardware where possible. Standard on the
> Lightning.
>
> -Modified one of the original Lightning cowlings to
> fit the Esqual fuselage.
> This cowling includes NACA ducts for carb air and
> the oil cooler, and has
> Lopresti style round air inlets. It is a much lower
> drag cowling than the
> one that comes with the Esqual kit and is another
> source of additional speed
> over the stock Esqual.
>
> -I did not use a muffler at all (more power?) and
> get cockpit heat and carb
> heat from hear muffs on exhaust stacks.
>
> -Oh yes, I almost forgot the "wide butt mod". I am
> 6'2'' and weigh about
> 215 pounds. I found that sitting in the Esqual
> molded fiberglass seat for
> any length of time, I would get "hot spots" on my
> hip bones. I cut
>
> slits in that area of the seat pans, heated the
> fiberglass and pressed the
> area outward to widen the area, and then re-glassed
> the seat pans. It helps
> a lot on long flights.
>
> There may be other small mods that I am not
> remembering, but these are
> the main ones. The result of all these changes and
> the extra equipment
> installed in the instrument panel, is probably the
> heaviest Esqual built to
>
=== message truncated ===


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Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

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Back to top
cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:56 pm    Post subject: Esqual "High Speed Crash" Reply with quote

brian, thanks for the response- as always you get two
thumbs up!
--- Brian Whittingham <dashvii(at)hotmail.com> wrote:

Quote:

Whittingham" <dashvii(at)hotmail.com>

Charles,
What I heard is that it was the previous owner
of the company giving a
demo ride to a media person. While doing a high
speed pass, the passenger
was given the controls and it inverted and went in.
What we might be saying
is that it was a high speed stall. Don't know that
under such circumstances
that a wing shape design would be much different.
If it were a low speed
stall spin and the plane had undesirable stall
characteristics then this
would make sense to change the wing design. The
Lightning's wing pretty
much falls right back into place and is practically
a non-event. The last
Esqual's that I flew, which would have the newer
wing design that you
mention would also fall right back into place, but
would usually have a
slight fall off to the right or left in the ones
that I've flown. (might
have something to do with such a light plane and all
the passenger weight,
namely me, on one side, but don't know) Brian W.


From: Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com>
Reply-To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: RE: Esqual "High Speed
Crash"
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 17:19:51 -0800 (PST)


<cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com>

I did a Google search using the words <Esqual
accident
Spain> and while unable to get a detailed accident
report of what Brian claims is the one Esqual
fatality, I was able to find the words "high speed
crash which caused Esqual to re-think its wing
design". This is not an exact quote, just as I
remember it. Anyone out there know the details of
that
accident?
--- Pete <pete(at)flylightning.net> wrote:

> >From the FAA web site - there are 12 Esquals
with
> AW certificates that are
> flying. Eleven sold by Esqual North America or
> Jabiru USA and one sold
> direct from Limair (I guess) at the time we could
> not get metal parts for
> our kits and Limair was keeping our deposit money
> for kits not delivered.
> The kit sold by Limair is serial 72 and the last
> ones we sold were 74 & 75..
> It would be interesting to find if Limair
supplies
> him with metal parts that
> they never supplied to our builders.
>
>
>
> Pete
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com
>
[mailto:owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com]
> On Behalf Of
> N1BZRich(at)aol.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 2:02 PM
> To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
> Subject: Re: Total # of Esqual
> flying
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> Since someone asked about Esquals, and my
> specific airplane has been
> mentioned, let me add a few comments. I estimate
> the number of Esqual kits
> still actively flying in the US is probably some
> where between 5 and 8, with
> probably 3 more to fly soon. Many more were
built
> in Europe and some in
> Australia. The ones with the Jabiru engine are
the
> fastest. My kit was
> serial number 70. I ordered the Esqual kit from
> Pete just after Sun-N-Fun
> 2005 because I did not want to wait a year for
the
> Lightning kit design to
> become finalized and available. I had made the
> mistake of quoting a price
> for my Bonanza and, just like that, it was sold
and
> I did not have a
> traveling airplane. I needed to replace it, but
did
> not really need four
> seats. The Esqual looked like a good possibility
> and with Pete's builder's
> assist it could be completed quickly. However,
> during the build process I
> made many changes to the Esqual design. Some
were
> just things I wanted to
> change to improve the looks, some changes were to
> improve performance, some
> changes were what I considered safety of flight
> issues, some changes were to
> improve maintainability, and other changes were
by
> necessity - meaning that
> many of my kit parts were never delivered by the
> then new Esqual owner in
> Belgium. (Future kit buyers be careful.) Bottom
> line, my Esqual kit could
> never have been completed without Pete finding
> sources to fabricate the
> missing parts - central beam assembly, rudder and
> brake pedals, engine
> mount, etc. All of these parts were built by the
> future Lightning
> fabricators.
>
>
>
> Here is a partial list of the changes I made:
>
> -Dual brakes using Matco cylinders on all four
> brake/rudder pedal
> assemblies. This is true dual brakes, not like
the
> passenger side dual
> brakes with cables to activate them, as is the
case
> if you order dual brakes
> with the Esqual kit.
>
> -Welded rudder pedal and brake assemblies made
out
> of 4130 chromoly steel to
> replace the weak looking parts that the Esqual
kit
> had. Well, My "weak
> looking" parts did not come, so had to have the
> future Lightning supplier
> weld up the parts for my airplane. So I have
> Lightning rudder and brake
> pedals.
>
> -Matco wheels and brakes with 500x5 main wheel
tires
> like on the Lightning.
>
> -Stainless steel firewall like on the Lightning.
> The firewall that comes
> with the Esqual kit looks sub-standard to me -
kind
> of like fiberglass cloth
> with aluminum film glued on. Not up to my safety
> standards.
>
> -Mounted the brake fluid reservoir and electric
fuel
> pump on the engine side
> of the firewall
>
> to ease maintenance on these items.
>
> -Dual throttles for pilot and co-pilot left
hands.
>
> -Moved the cockpit air inlets from the cowling to
> aft of the firewall using
> a NACA style ducts. By doing this you don't need
to
> have holes in the
> firewall for cockpit air as on the Esqual kit.
The
> Lightning is set up this
> way and in my book is much safer if you have en
> engine fire.
>

=== message truncated ===



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ultralight.flyer(at)gmail
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:42 am    Post subject: Esqual "High Speed Crash" Reply with quote

It was during a loop. The passenger didn't get the controls properly, or didn't took the ground into acount. The ex-owner did a loop in a smooth way, using appropriate rudder to keep the airplane on vertical plan. The passenger tried it after... he did a loop like with an oval path, and keep pulling the stick to one more loop. At second loop, he started very low and tried to get a rounded path. At the top he loose lots of speed and the controls began to loose effectivness. At 45º angle with head down and the plane sliding or spining direct to the ground, there was no way to recover it.

On 3/8/07, Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com (cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com)> wrote:
Quote:
--> Lightning-List message posted by: Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com (cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com)>

brian, thanks for the response- as always you get two
thumbs up!
--- Brian Whittingham <dashvii(at)hotmail.com (dashvii(at)hotmail.com)> wrote:

Quote:
--> Lightning-List message posted by: "Brian
Whittingham" <dashvii(at)hotmail.com (dashvii(at)hotmail.com)>

Charles,
  What I heard is that it was the previous owner
of the company giving a
demo ride to a media person. While doing a high
speed pass, the passenger
was given the controls and it inverted and went in.
What we might be saying
is that it was a high speed stall. Don't know that
under such circumstances
that a wing shape design would be much different.
If it were a low speed
stall spin and the plane had undesirable stall
characteristics then this
would make sense to change the wing design. The
Lightning's wing pretty
much falls right back into place and is practically
a non-event. The last
Esqual's that I flew, which would have the newer
wing design that you
> mention would also fall right back into place, but

Quote:
would usually have a
slight fall off to the right or left in the ones
that I've flown. (might
have something to do with such a light plane and all
the passenger weight,
namely me, on one side, but don't know) Brian W.
From: Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com (cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com)>
Reply-To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com (lightning-list(at)matronics.com)
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com (lightning-list(at)matronics.com)
Subject: RE: Esqual "High Speed
Crash"
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 17:19:51 -0800 (PST)

--> Lightning-List message posted by: Charles Dewey
<cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com (cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com)>

I did a Google search using the words <Esqual
accident
Spain> and while unable to get a detailed accident
report of what Brian claims is the one Esqual
fatality, I was able to find the words "high speed
crash which caused Esqual to re-think its wing
design". This is not an exact quote, just as I
remember it. Anyone out there know the details of
that
accident?
--- Pete < pete(at)flylightning.net (pete(at)flylightning.net)> wrote:

> >From the FAA web site - there are 12 Esquals
with
> AW certificates that are
> flying. Eleven sold by Esqual North America or
> Jabiru USA and one sold
> direct from Limair (I guess) at the time we could
> not get metal parts for
> our kits and Limair was keeping our deposit money
> for kits not delivered.
> The kit sold by Limair is serial 72 and the last
> ones we sold were 74 & 75..
> It would be interesting to find if Limair
supplies
  > him with metal parts that
> they never supplied to our builders.
>
>
>
 > Pete
>
>
 >
> _____
>
> From: owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com (owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com)
>
[mailto:owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com (owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com)]
> On Behalf Of
> N1BZRich(at)aol.com (N1BZRich(at)aol.com)
 > Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 2:02 PM
> To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com (lightning-list(at)matronics.com)
> Subject: Re: Total # of Esqual
> flying
>
>
>
> Hello all,
  >
> Since someone asked about Esquals, and my
> specific airplane has been
> mentioned, let me add a few comments.  I estimate
> the number of Esqual kits
> still actively flying in the US is probably some
> where between 5 and 8, with
> probably 3 more to fly soon. Many more were
built
> > in Europe and some in

Quote:
> Australia. The ones with the Jabiru engine are
the
> fastest. My kit was
> serial number 70. I ordered the Esqual kit from
> Pete just after Sun-N-Fun
> 2005 because I did not want to wait a year for
the
> Lightning kit design to
 > become finalized and available. I had made the
  > mistake of quoting a price
> for my Bonanza and, just like that, it was sold
and
> I did not have a
> traveling airplane. I needed to replace it, but
did
> not really need four
> seats.  The Esqual looked like a good possibility
> > and with Pete's builder's

Quote:
> assist it could be completed quickly. However,
> during the build process I
> made many changes to the Esqual design. Some
were
> > just things I wanted to

Quote:
> change to improve the looks, some changes were to
> improve performance, some
> changes were what I considered safety of flight
> issues, some changes were to
> improve maintainability, and other changes were
by
> necessity - meaning that
 > many of my kit parts were never delivered by the
> then new Esqual owner in
> Belgium. (Future kit buyers be careful.) Bottom
> line, my Esqual kit could
> never have been completed without Pete finding
> sources to fabricate the
> missing parts - central beam assembly, rudder and
> brake pedals, engine
> mount, etc. All of these parts were built by the
> future Lightning
> fabricators.
>
>
 >
> Here is a partial list of the changes I made:
>
> -Dual brakes using Matco cylinders on all four
> brake/rudder pedal
  > assemblies. This is true dual brakes, not like
the
> passenger side dual
> brakes with cables to activate them, as is the
case
> if you order dual brakes
  > with the Esqual kit.
>
 > -Welded rudder pedal and brake assemblies made
out
  > of 4130 chromoly steel to
> replace the weak looking parts that the Esqual
kit
> had. Well, My "weak
> looking" parts did not come, so had to have the
> future Lightning supplier
> weld up the parts for my airplane. So I have
> > Lightning rudder and brake

Quote:
> pedals.
>
> -Matco wheels and brakes with 500x5 main wheel
tires
> like on the Lightning.
>
> -Stainless steel firewall like on the Lightning.
> The firewall that comes
> with the Esqual kit looks sub-standard to me -
kind
 > of like fiberglass cloth
> with aluminum film glued on. Not up to my safety
> standards.
>
> -Mounted the brake fluid reservoir and electric
fuel
> pump on the engine side
> of the firewall
>
> to ease maintenance on these items.
>
> -Dual throttles for pilot and co-pilot left
hands.
>
 > -Moved the cockpit air inlets from the cowling to
> aft of the firewall using
> a NACA style ducts.  By doing this you don't need
to
> have holes in the
> firewall for cockpit air as on the Esqual kit.
The
> Lightning is set up this
> way and in my book is much safer if you have en
> > engine fire.

Quote:
>

=== message truncated ===



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--
Miguel Maia de Loureiro
Ultralight Pilot Suport Services
Cel.: +351 91 419 21 04
e-Mail: ultralight.flyer(at)gmail.com (ultralight.flyer(at)gmail.com) [quote][b]


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Rick



Joined: 24 Jul 2006
Posts: 113
Location: Colonial Beach, Virginia

PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 6:02 am    Post subject: Esqual "High Speed Crash" Reply with quote

Sounds like maybe they entered a inverted spin at low altitude?
If so, probably no time to recover unless the correct control imputs were
entered RIGHT NOW!
Even then, they may have just been too low for the recovery......

Rick

Quote:
From: "Miguel Maia de Loureiro" <ultralight.flyer(at)gmail.com>
Reply-To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: Re: Esqual "High Speed Crash"
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2007 13:42:29 +0000

It was during a loop. The passenger didn't get the controls properly, or
didn't took the ground into acount. The ex-owner did a loop in a smooth
way,
using appropriate rudder to keep the airplane on vertical plan. The
passenger tried it after... he did a loop like with an oval path, and keep
pulling the stick to one more loop. At second loop, he started very low and
tried to get a rounded path. At the top he loose lots of speed and the
controls began to loose effectivness. At 45º angle with head down and the
plane sliding or spining direct to the ground, there was no way to recover
it.


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dashvii(at)hotmail.com
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:36 am    Post subject: Esqual "High Speed Crash" Reply with quote

Interesting. Good to have that cleared up. That still doesn't explain why
the change in wing planform though. Might it simply have been to lower
stall speed by increasing span and also allowing an even shorter takeoff
run? I know a lot of the Esquals in Europe that I've seen pictures of don't
have the wheelpants or gear leg fairings. They also have a lighter weight
to conform with "microlight" specs. Brian W.
From: "Miguel Maia de Loureiro" <ultralight.flyer(at)gmail.com>
Reply-To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: Re: Esqual "High Speed Crash"
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2007 13:42:29 +0000

It was during a loop. The passenger didn't get the controls properly, or
didn't took the ground into acount. The ex-owner did a loop in a smooth way,
using appropriate rudder to keep the airplane on vertical plan. The
passenger tried it after... he did a loop like with an oval path, and keep
pulling the stick to one more loop. At second loop, he started very low and
tried to get a rounded path. At the top he loose lots of speed and the
controls began to loose effectivness. At 45º angle with head down and the
plane sliding or spining direct to the ground, there was no way to recover
it.

On 3/8/07, Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com> wrote:
Quote:



brian, thanks for the response- as always you get two
thumbs up!
--- Brian Whittingham <dashvii(at)hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> Whittingham" <dashvii(at)hotmail.com>
>
> Charles,
> What I heard is that it was the previous owner
> of the company giving a
> demo ride to a media person. While doing a high
> speed pass, the passenger
> was given the controls and it inverted and went in.
> What we might be saying
> is that it was a high speed stall. Don't know that
> under such circumstances
> that a wing shape design would be much different.
> If it were a low speed
> stall spin and the plane had undesirable stall
> characteristics then this
> would make sense to change the wing design. The
> Lightning's wing pretty
> much falls right back into place and is practically
> a non-event. The last
> Esqual's that I flew, which would have the newer
> wing design that you
> mention would also fall right back into place, but
> would usually have a
> slight fall off to the right or left in the ones
> that I've flown. (might
> have something to do with such a light plane and all
> the passenger weight,
> namely me, on one side, but don't know) Brian W.
>
>
> From: Charles Dewey <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
> To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
> Subject: RE: Esqual "High Speed
> Crash"
> Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 17:19:51 -0800 (PST)
>
>
> <cdewey6969(at)yahoo.com>
>
> I did a Google search using the words <Esqual
> accident
> Spain> and while unable to get a detailed accident
> report of what Brian claims is the one Esqual
> fatality, I was able to find the words "high speed
> crash which caused Esqual to re-think its wing
> design". This is not an exact quote, just as I
> remember it. Anyone out there know the details of
> that
> accident?
> --- Pete <pete(at)flylightning.net> wrote:
>
> > >From the FAA web site - there are 12 Esquals
> with
> > AW certificates that are
> > flying. Eleven sold by Esqual North America or
> > Jabiru USA and one sold
> > direct from Limair (I guess) at the time we could
> > not get metal parts for
> > our kits and Limair was keeping our deposit money
> > for kits not delivered.
> > The kit sold by Limair is serial 72 and the last
> > ones we sold were 74 & 75..
> > It would be interesting to find if Limair
> supplies
> > him with metal parts that
> > they never supplied to our builders.
> >
> >
> >
> > Pete
> >
> >
> >
> > _____
> >
> > From: owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com
> >
> [mailto:owner-lightning-list-server(at)matronics.com]
> > On Behalf Of
> > N1BZRich(at)aol.com
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 2:02 PM
> > To: lightning-list(at)matronics.com
> > Subject: Re: Total # of Esqual
> > flying
> >
> >
> >
> > Hello all,
> >
> > Since someone asked about Esquals, and my
> > specific airplane has been
> > mentioned, let me add a few comments. I estimate
> > the number of Esqual kits
> > still actively flying in the US is probably some
> > where between 5 and 8, with
> > probably 3 more to fly soon. Many more were
> built
> > in Europe and some in
> > Australia. The ones with the Jabiru engine are
> the
> > fastest. My kit was
> > serial number 70. I ordered the Esqual kit from
> > Pete just after Sun-N-Fun
> > 2005 because I did not want to wait a year for
> the
> > Lightning kit design to
> > become finalized and available. I had made the
> > mistake of quoting a price
> > for my Bonanza and, just like that, it was sold
> and
> > I did not have a
> > traveling airplane. I needed to replace it, but
> did
> > not really need four
> > seats. The Esqual looked like a good possibility
> > and with Pete's builder's
> > assist it could be completed quickly. However,
> > during the build process I
> > made many changes to the Esqual design. Some
> were
> > just things I wanted to
> > change to improve the looks, some changes were to
> > improve performance, some
> > changes were what I considered safety of flight
> > issues, some changes were to
> > improve maintainability, and other changes were
> by
> > necessity - meaning that
> > many of my kit parts were never delivered by the
> > then new Esqual owner in
> > Belgium. (Future kit buyers be careful.) Bottom
> > line, my Esqual kit could
> > never have been completed without Pete finding
> > sources to fabricate the
> > missing parts - central beam assembly, rudder and
> > brake pedals, engine
> > mount, etc. All of these parts were built by the
> > future Lightning
> > fabricators.
> >
> >
> >
> > Here is a partial list of the changes I made:
> >
> > -Dual brakes using Matco cylinders on all four
> > brake/rudder pedal
> > assemblies. This is true dual brakes, not like
> the
> > passenger side dual
> > brakes with cables to activate them, as is the
> case
> > if you order dual brakes
> > with the Esqual kit.
> >
> > -Welded rudder pedal and brake assemblies made
> out
> > of 4130 chromoly steel to
> > replace the weak looking parts that the Esqual
> kit
> > had. Well, My "weak
> > looking" parts did not come, so had to have the
> > future Lightning supplier
> > weld up the parts for my airplane. So I have
> > Lightning rudder and brake
> > pedals.
> >
> > -Matco wheels and brakes with 500x5 main wheel
> tires
> > like on the Lightning.
> >
> > -Stainless steel firewall like on the Lightning.
> > The firewall that comes
> > with the Esqual kit looks sub-standard to me -
> kind
> > of like fiberglass cloth
> > with aluminum film glued on. Not up to my safety
> > standards.
> >
> > -Mounted the brake fluid reservoir and electric
> fuel
> > pump on the engine side
> > of the firewall
> >
> > to ease maintenance on these items.
> >
> > -Dual throttles for pilot and co-pilot left
> hands.
> >
> > -Moved the cockpit air inlets from the cowling to
> > aft of the firewall using
> > a NACA style ducts. By doing this you don't need
> to
> > have holes in the
> > firewall for cockpit air as on the Esqual kit.
> The
> > Lightning is set up this
> > way and in my book is much safer if you have en
> > engine fire.
> >
>
=== message truncated ===


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============
============
Quote:




--
Miguel Maia de Loureiro
Ultralight Pilot Suport Services
Cel.: +351 91 419 21 04
e-Mail: ultralight.flyer(at)gmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Get a FREE Web site, company branded e-mail and more from Microsoft Office


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